Released in autumn 2020, the Marmot WarmCube Featherless Hoody slipped under the radar a little, hindered by Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions across Europe. But, not to be defeated, this synthetic-insulated jacket’s reputation has grown and grown since then. It’s won a gold award at the esteemed ISPO awards, with the judges recognising its ‘innovative features’, ‘perfect thermal regulation’ and ‘sustainable approach’, and it recently picked up a gong from a leading outdoor magazine too.

Ditching the usual approach of horizontal, thin baffles, this jacket instead features cube-shaped baffles on the inside – an eye-catching and intriguing design called 3D WarmCube. These inner cubes are designed to wrap around your body to provide warmth and comfort, while the channels in-between allow the jacket to warm up really quickly but also to dump heat if you unzip the front zipper. The idea is to provide the best of both worlds: excellent warmth in colder conditions, as well as first-rate breathability and temperature regulation when you’re working hard.

The insulation inside the jacket’s cubes is made from 75% recycled synthetic insulation, which behaves like 700 fill power down. There is a lot of it too – 200g in total (80g of PrimaLoft Silver Hi-Loft and 120g of recycled Thinsulate Featherless) – ensuring this winter-ready jacket is very warm and opulently cosy. The cubes themselves are fluffy and lofty, while externally the jacket features flatter, sheet-style insulation. Being synthetic, all of this insulation performs well even when wet.